Red
by NaniWise
Summary: Just a tengu au and a fluffy Cross Mana multi shot no one asked for. Please Read and Review.
1. RED

**_(Are you all tired of me, yet? I own nothing as usual and I hope you all enjoy. God bless you all.)_**

In the darkest parts of the famed suicide forest of Japan, a place commonly thought to be uninhabited, a few choice curse words echoed through the night. The pasty white walls of the research facility kept in these areas, though very well hidden, were anything but soundproof.

Some thought it a poor choice to hide such an important facility where it could be easily discovered, but if the rumors of the most horrendous forms of evil didn't keep people away, surely such colourful language would do the job.

Inside the facility, in a room placed in their back of the building, every window was closed, but through the pleated blinds, a faint light source was still visible like the stars in the sky.

The keeper of that facility was working late again. Having left moments ago to see what had triggered his trap, his blazing red hair was still dripping with rainwater, crystal droplets falling softly upon his mahogany desk illuminated by the light of a single lamp.

At times, the young Zoologist Cross Marian regretted his life choices.

Even with his hands covered with leather gloves made for this specific job, he still felt the infantile Tengu's piercing fangs in his skin.

Despite the wild creature's efforts, though, the man wouldn't let it free.

Unfortunately, after a thorough inspection under the lamp, he snarled angrily when he realized that the baby tengu's bite was the only thing unique about it.

At his desk, the man let out a heavy sigh, once again pulling its small fragile wings from its sides in hopes of seeing anything out of the ordinary in its bushels of soft red feathers packed in between the folds in its leathery skin.

Like most things in Cross's life, he was met with bitter disappointment.

The tengu he had caught a few hours previous, a very small bird like creature with human child like qualities, was nothing more than a perfectly common red mountain tengu. It wasn't even all that good looking of a tengu, either.

He wouldn't have been surprised if it was abandoned by its parents simply because of how ugly and useless it was.

If it had been show quality at least, he could have sold it on the black market for some kind of price.

Unfortunately as it stood, this in his hands was not an undiscovered species nor any new specimen, so the Organization would not pay him anything for his time and the man who had already worked half his life away would go without food for another day, yet again.

It was only through the discovery of interesting or brand new specimens that he was payed any sort of money for his time, but these days there were so few successes, he began to wonder if there was anything left to discover.

Running his free hand through his wet hair to pull it from his face, he began to sigh through clenched teeth.

This late into the night, he also began to wonder if the Organization was run purely by his vengeful ex lovers who were doing their very best to force the man into submission by legal starvation.

It seemed very likely at the time, but deep down he knew these were just the thoughts one acquires after three too many cups of coffee consumed in the late hours.

The little bird still had yet to release his hand. It just remained that way with consistent pressure in its jaw, glaring up at him with bulging violet eyes. Even if it was old enough to see anything past its wingspan, he still wouldn't have been intimidated.

Cross, despite his better judgment, found himself feeling a great amount of a hate and displeasure for the creature, a member of a critically endangered species.

He thought that perhaps, even though the creature wouldn't get him money from the organization, it could assist him in other ways instead.

Some recipes for cooking chicken still remained in the bottom of his desk doors and, considering it for a moment, he realized that tengu were birds just like chickens.

Perhaps he would have this creature for supper.

It was better than nothing after all.

He rose from his seat, bird in his steadily tightening grip with the fullest intention of cooking the creature up for a nice meal.

It was probably about three in the morning, but he didn't care. He was having a late supper, and that was final.

But his intentions were dashed from his mind when, upon rising, he heard the distinct recognizable sound of his office door slamming open against the adjacent wall.

The man had lived alone for many years so his heart skipping a beat at the ensuing fear was entirely justified.

He may or may not have let out a sharp shriek, but he most definitely released his tight grip upon the baby Tengu on reflex and the creature sprung to life, immediately fluttering its little wings till it was out of sight.

The man let out a harsh curse before jerking towards the door and the person he knew full well was standing in the doorway before roaring in the loudest of voices.

"Mana, I swear on all that is good and holy-!" He yelled, meeting the gaze of the Onmiyoji in the doorway who just smiled in response before lifting a finger to his lips to silence the Zoologist.

Said Onmiyoji, Mana, lived in the temple a mile or so away and came to visit occasionally. Much less visit, much more just break in.

"Don't yell, Cross." He replied before walking into the room he had not been invited into, "It's far too late for that."

"I will yell, you absolute-!" He snapped before choking on his words and soon composing himself, "I locked the door."

"And I thought demons were warring in this old place from the ruckus I heard." Mana smiled politely as he pulled from his robe pocket a single twisted white hairpin for Cross' inspection, "I knew I had to perform an exorcism, so I had to find my own way in."

At this point, the panic subsided so Cross' body lost its tension. His exhaustion finally caught up to him and he realized just how tired he was. Without further ado, he sat himself down on his chair with a heavy sigh and a finger to his temples.

"You're too much…" He growled.

"I'm just aware of my responsibilities." The Onmiyoji replied as he brought himself behind him, and began to pull a second item from his silken robes of white, "Just as I am aware of the fact that he only yell like that when you are hungry."

Cross glanced over to see the item his longtime friend presented before him.

A single crimson apple.

"You can have it." Mana said.

Of course this action led Cross to look at the hand that held the fruit.

As usual, the hand was nothing but skin and bones, thin and spider like like the hand of a corpse.

Leading up, the wrist and forearm were no different. Deathly thin, the leathery skin clinging to brittle bone for dear life much like the person who that skin belonged to.

His chest was covered by his silk robe, but Cross knew there was nothing but ribs. The collarbone led to the neck and soon to the face where, aside from the gaunt and sunken in features, he observed there to be heavy dark rings under his friend's eyes.

In addition to not eating, he also hadn't been sleeping. As expected, Cross thought.

Mana had been having extreme bouts of insomnia since the accident happened a year ago. The accident that took what was most important to him, still haunting him to this very day.

That accident was probably the only reason why Mana played a bitter person like him nightly visits; Because the silence, the empty space, the loneliness was just too much for him to handle.

For a moment, the Zoologist felt a pang of pity, but he ignored it.

"I don't need it." Was Cross' eventually reply, "You eat it."

"But what do you have to eat in this old place?"

"I did have something!" He bit back, "But you let it free when you broke into my house!"

Mana looked offended, shocked, disturbed at the accusation like he hadn't done things like this a thousand times before.

"What?" He gasped, "No I didn't!".

"Yes you did!"

"Where?" He cried as he began to search around, twisting his head here and there, everywhere to search for the creature he let loose, "Where is it?!"

"Its long gone now." Cross replied as he turned his back to the man, returning yet again to his desk cluttered with paperwork collected over the span of several restless nights, "Don't waste your energy looking for it."

He was fully prepared to forget about it and spend the rest of his night buried six feet under by paperwork and alcohol.

Cross took hold of his pen and the first piece of paper he could find, not caring what it was and prepared to do it, not caring about the steady migraine that he knew was coming to claim him.

That was how his night was going to go until he heard Mana speak up yet again.

"Cross?" He asked gently from the far corner of the office, "Is this what you were talking about?".

Cross paused before turning his chair yet again.

He quickly caught sight of his friend kneeling in front the fake tree hr put in the corner so that it wouldn't obstruct his work.

Mana's movements were soft and gentle, like he were trying to be quiet in order not to scare something.

But what was the question.

Upon walking over and kneeling beside Mana, Cross made the realization that what the Onmiyoji was asking was correct and a vengeful rage pooled in his stomach.

It was in fact, exactly what he was talking about.

Roosted serenely upon the evergreen leaves of plastic was that same red tengu infant he had caught a few hours previous. It had just been sitting there in his office, sleeping like it were intending to taunt him.

It slept like a dog, its small body curled up like a dogs and its crimson wings pulled over its head to block out the light. With its human like face out of sight, it just looked like a normal bird.

Cross had half a mind to pick it up and cook it then and there but before his mind could register the command, Mana interfered.

Mana's hand shot forward and, before Cross could protest, took hold of the creature and pulled it close to his chest.

"No, don't!" He began, but it was too late.

The small creature shrieked and blood began to drip upon the wooden floorboards. Its jaws had clamped onto Mana's wrist, tearing the flesh deeply.

Despite this, Mana did not let it go. He didn't even so much as flinch at the sudden injury inflicted, but rather just kept his eyes fixed upon the small struggling creature and never loosened his grip. Not even once.

Cross remained perplexed by this action.

He held it gently, but tightly so it couldn't escape.

He held it like it were a wild animal, and yet lovingly like it were a pet.

He held it like it were a stranger, and yet with the intention of knowing the creature better.

Its struggles were eased. Its movements became less ragade. Cross watched as the creature, slowly but surely, fell into a deep sleep in his friends palm.

Several moments passed before a single word was spoken again.

It was Mana who spoke. The words were a quiet, barely audible muttering but Cross heard.

"You were going to eat this?" He asked, eyes stuck like they were glued still, seemingly staring into space as he stroked the creature in its peaceful slumber.

"Well, of course. There's nothing else here and there's really no use for a Red mountain tengu."

"But…. What if it's a white tengu?"

"What, white?"

"Yes…"

"That would be impossible. You know that as well as I do. White tengu don't exist."

"Hypothetically, Cross."

"... Well, I'm sure I'd get a fortune for discovering one… but it's red."

"Yes… Its very red and quite small, to…."

"It was obviously abandoned, and tengu are the sort of yokai don't mature physically until they mature mentally, you know…."

"No… I didn't know that."

It was then that the Zoologist began to see by the sudden drop of the man's head and sinking posture rust Mana was beginning to fall asleep just like the little bird in his arms.

Part of Cross was relieved to see this as it meant his insomnia was wearing off but the other part of him was concerned.

"Hey," He warned as he steadied Mana with a hand on his shoulder, "Don't fall asleep here."

"It's not white yet..." Were the man's words, blurted suddenly and whispered dreamily like he were half asleep already, suddenly meeting his eyes with a serious expression, "You can't eat it…."

A silence followed but Cross quickly brushed it off the nonsense as the usual late night thoughts as he pulled the man to his feet.

"Yah yah, okay," He replied as he stood, "But you gotta get home. Can't have them thinking I abducted you or something."

Mana complied, albeit a bit hesitantly when he pried the creature from his arms and gentle placed it in the birdcage he kept on his desk.

After latching the cage, Cross promptly walked his friend, to the best of his ability, to the door. It was more or less a failure as Cross was practically half asleep, as well.

On the way, Cross made sure to curse just how big this nearly abandoned facility was but he arrived at the entrance sooner than he would have thought.

"Now make sure not to fall asleep on the way, you idiot." Cross snapped, "I'm not about to walk you to the temple in this weather."

"I won't." Mana whined quietly, smiling knowing it was just Cross' way of telling him to be safe, "I won't."

Cross had the decency to watch him walk out the doorway into the pouring rain, but before he did even that much, he paused.

"Cross?"

Cross groaned, "What is, Mana?".

" Y-You know those stories?" Mana began, his voice almost entirely muffled out by the heavy rainfall, "Those stories about the… white tengu?"

"What about them?"

"N-Nothing, don't worry about it." He muttered as he proceeded into the night, "I'll be coming back to see him tomorrow."

And with those final words, he was gone.

After a few moments, Cross the Zoologist realized two things.

One, a completely useless red tengu was now an important part of his chamber inventory. He really didn't have a choice in the matter.

Two, Mana did not take his apple back.

A bitter laughter rang throughout the darkest parts of the famed Suicide Forest of Japan, so quiet that even the lurking spirits could not have caught it.

( ** _It's late. Imma sleep.)_**


	2. RED PLUS WHITE

( ** _Hello everyone! I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to get out and that the pacing is weird, but I hope you find it in you to enjoy it just the same. That being said, I own nothing and I hope you enjoy. God bless every single one of you!)_**

The forest had gone silent. The normally lively woods had either been abandoned or all that resided inside hid within the trunks and branches of the trees.

No one dared to speak, no one dared to breath, not even the muskrats common to these parts. The ensuing silence that echoed through these accursed woods was almost deafening, frightening, alarming, giving one the sense of danger at every corner and the instinct to run.

Fear engulfed this normally serene realm. This was her power over them.

No one would come out. No one dared be seen by the light of day as long as she was there, and in a rather poor mood, no less.

Of all the diverse yokai kept in the specimen chambers in the Zoologist Cross's care, Lenalee was the most strikingly notable out of the bunch.

At first glance, she was but a mere beautiful youth, skin as pure and white as freshly fallen snow, long strands of silky hair as black as night falling down the gentle slopes and curves of her slender body. Her fingers were thin like the legs of spiders and her facial features were symmetrical and without blemish, albeit quite cold.

The only possible blemish one could hope to pinpoint was the surgical most she insisted on wearing to cover up her probably perfect face.

At second glance, of course, well, most men don't make it past the first glance.

"Tell me…. kind sir, am I…. beautiful?"

Though every fiber of his being insisted she was, Cross held his tongue and remained silent.

With a steady hand, without fear or hesitation, Cross held out to the girl roosted upon the rock her daily meal; A fresh but very dead chicken, raw and uncooked.

She inspected it momentarily with her lovely dark orbs.

Yes, his hands were gloved, gloves being worn so often they practically became a part of him, but in the beginning, it was a mere safety precaution, because if his hands remained naked, he would surely lose them. These leather hands were ones she had grown accustomed to, being the familiar friends that fed her daily. He always wore the gloves when he fed her, so if he were to remove them, his bare hands would frighten her beyond any sane notion and she would surely go on a rampage.

"You are like many women." Cross replied, reciting the same lines he had said since he found her two years ago, "You are a common woman, Lenalee."

A moment of silence passed, the youthful girl's expression as unreadable and cold as ever. For the past several days, she was refusing food. It was a minor rebellion and she had them often. Cross couldn't properly pinpoint the cause, be it depression, some sort of pent up anger, problems in her diet or lack of interaction with those of her own kind, but being one of the last of her species, Cross could not very well afford to have her starve to death on his watch.

That's why he gifted her with this treat, something he knew she couldn't resist.

The rebellion ended abruptly. So much so, it was almost anticlimactic and disappointing. Cross always did love a chase when it came to beautiful women, and sometimes he couldn't deny that instinct even if Lenalee wasn't a normal girl.

With a heavy sigh, she let herself elegantly slip of the rock by the lake to fall right in front of him and snatch the bird from his hand.

She didn't say thank you. She never did.

Cross did not stay to watch, knowing her feasting sessions to be quite gruesome.

It wasn't her fault, though. She didn't want to live like this.

Lenalee was what most might know to be a Kuchisake Onna and he knew full well the secret of what lie underneath that surgical mask.

After a brief cold shudder that ran through his body, Cross could not help but sigh.

It was already midday and he had only managed to feed one yokai. He was probably going to pull another all nighter.

The life of a Zoologist hidden in the darkest parts of the suicide forest was a hard life and the people of the Organization were nothing short of slave drivers.

Nothing had ever changed in this abandoned facility. Nothing ever would. Cross Marian was most likely doomed to die as miserable old alcoholic, the only attendants being Mana and a handful of vengeful ex girlfriends coming for one final pleasure of splitting on this grave.

He honestly hoped that would happen so that he would be given the equally satisfying pleasure of returning from the grave as a Yurei and haunting all of them individually.

On the other hand, judging by the continual stream of bad luck he received, he might just end up being tied to this old abandoned facility, taking care of the residents for the rest of all eternity.

If that wasn't the perfect embodiment of hell on earth, he didn't know what was.

It was becoming noticeably sad that it took a common red tengu infant to liven up his miserably boring and pathetically putrid existence upon this earth.

The awful nuisance still didn't have a name yet.

Two long months had passed since the baby tengu's sudden and unexpected arrival and the Zoologist Cross was surprised to say the the little nuisance had nearly tripled in size.

Its wingspan had grown, its feathers longer and stronger, especially on the tail, expressing the usual signature markings of a Red Mountain Tengu. Small brittle talons were beginning to grow on its feet, which spelled nothing but trouble for Cross. Its bones were larger and it seemed to have far more energy than he had seen in any other specimens before.

Overall, it was growing at a significantly quick rate.

Of course, he had no idea what on earth could have caused this growth as every day, the common tengu was given to Onmiyoji Mana who took it who knows where and did who knows what with it.

Whatever it was that was done in these little outings, all Cross knew was that it got the creature madly attached to Cross' long time friend.

In Mana's presence, the bird now the size of a hawk, rested on his shoulder quietly and happily, nuzzling up against his neck whenever it could.

Every time Mana left the room, however, to either return in a moment or to bid it goodnight, which was usually very early in the morning due to his insomnia, the tengu immediately turned into a feral nightmare, growling and nipping at Cross' fingers, throwing the Zoologist's work and belongings across the room, being loud and destructive, overall doing everything it could to terrorize Cross and disrupt his work.

And, of course, as soon as Mana made his way through the doorway, the behavior ceased and it went back to being the man's perfect angel.

Of course, Cross could not simply request Mana perform an exorcism on the demon Tengu because, despite being his friend first, he never believed him. The blatant betrayal of trust drove Cross absolutely mad, sometimes.

In his search for a cause for this seemingly spontaneous bipolarity in the creatures psyche, he was baffled to realize that Mana was most likely the one and only cause, do to his need to spoil the creature absolutely rotten.

He once had to spend two full hours in his very busy day with Mana at five in the morning baking a double chocolate mousse cake to perfection only to give every crumb to the dumb bird child who accepted it without so much as looking greatful. It ate the full thing in twenty minutes tops only to nudge Mana's side in ruthless demand for more junk food.

When asked for the reason of this complete and utter waste of his time, Mana simply told him with a smile that it was the tengu's birthday as he had been its guardian for exactly two months now.

Cross was filled with so much fiery rage that if Mana was anything other than the only person who ever came to visit him, Cross would have thrown him off a cliffside and laughed till daybreak at his demise.

The man was delusional, treating an obnoxious animal like it was his own child, but Cross just couldn't find it within the cold empty depths of his heart to deny him this. Even if the bird child bought his so much misery, it made Mana happier than he had seen him in a long time and somehow, though forced beyond his true nature, he prefered it.

But he only put up wit the bird to some extent.

When Mana was busy back at the temple, Cross, not wanting to deal with the ravenous beast eating and destroying all that was his, put the bird in the specimen chambers along with the rest of the endangered yokai raised in captivity but the Zoologist knew even less of what went on in there.

He guessed he should be thankful the tengu didn't return with life long trauma.

There were many occupants of the chambers, ranging from the humble kapa to to sly crow tengu to the noble snow women. In bringing such a group together, who knew what could happen.

What could possibly possess a perfectly healthy Kamaitachi pair, also known as the Infamous troublemakers Jasdevi, to grow a more human intelligence and build mannequins of humans out of sticks and leaves simply to practice their cutting skills? Had they been influence by someone? Were they more intelligent that he previously thought? Even if they were, they still had to act like it.

On that note, why on earth, at six in the morning, was the second Yuki Onna, other wise known as the Yuki Josei Alma, at the very top of a pine tree, blubbering like a child about how wind stole his mayonnaise jar? What on earth even gave him the notion that the wind was stealing His things? But more importantly, how on earth did he get the mayonnaise to begin with? And even more importantly, why on earth did he want fifty jars of the nasty abominable spread? How on earth did he get addicted to mayonnaise?

But who could forget about the absolute disaster a year ago when Lavi, one of the two kitsune in Cross' possession, thought it an absolutely brilliant idea to cut the previously mentioned Yuki Onna's hair as one of his pranks. Even if it was just a small strand, Lavi declared that it was his most prized possession and he would treasure it for the rest of all eternity, which immediately riled up the second Yuki Josei of the pair, Yuu. Immediately the otherwise beautiful and delicate creature began to go on a murderous rampage, throwing chunks of ice at everything, not caring what he hit. Yuu injured several other yokai in his rampage and knocked out a solid half of the security and electric system. Its because of the bill of said maintenance on the chambers and the yokai within that Cross was no in so much debt, he could scarcely pay for a day's meal. Yes, Cross is still quite angry about it.

Don't even get the man started on when the Gashadokuro, Krory, and the Nure Onna, Eliade fell in love and began to try to find ways to escape the chambers so that they could marry in Europe. That was just simply awful. He still had nightmares.

Yes, Cross hated the creatures he guarded. He couldn't deny that he despised every one of them down to his very core, but he despised everything down to his very core. He was a bitter man and he could not simply deny his nature as one.

Even in his bitterness, he could not deny the fact that these creatures, these seemingly mythical and magical monsters and legends that deny the laws of science to the breaking point needed to be protected. Yokai pelts, claws or eyes go for high prices on the market or they are just shot in the forests for sport. Increasingly limited land space and the mere ignorant cruelty of humanity was driving these creatures to extinction so if he didn't at least make an effort to protect them in this awful Organization where, though all us conducted in the name of protecting these endangered species, no one really seemed to care about anything but money, who would?

Besides, he may despise them, but if Maria loved them so much, perhaps he could put up with them another day, in honour of her memory that still remained so vivid in his mind.

Now, having said that, Cross could not deny the fact that having a completely useless Tengu around just didn't match with the perfect pattern of beautifully endangered specimen.

It had bothered him before, it bothered him now and it would probably continue to bother him till either he or the bird died of old age.

Honestly, he thought as he pitched a coconut, a personal favourite, in the general direction of the Kappa known as Johnny to most, If Mana was going to get a pet he should have gotten some kind of dragon, not a completely commonplace red bird child. At least the dragon could be of some value, far more aesthetically pleasing and it could protect him from danger.

A red tengu couldn't do any of that and he had no idea why his long time friend had grown so attached to the stupid thing.


	3. PINK

**_(Hello again! I want to thank everyone for their support and kind words as they mean very much to me and really keep me going when writing stuff like this. That being said, I own nothing and I truly hope you all enjoy this. God bless every one of you!)_**

The temple that had been Mana's home and the place he trained as a member of the Onmiyoji since childhood was a place of hard work and dedication but, more than that, it was a place of love.

Mana loved it there. It was a place of peace and prosperity where no judgment resided.

The young man often heard his friend, the Zoologist who lived a few miles down the path, say that he did not like his lovely home for many reasons, one of them being that, no matter who he snapped at or hit, no matter he broke or what he threw up on, there wasn't a single instant in which any of the members of the temple got angry at him.

It wasn't even like they were excellent at holding back their rage. That wasn't it at all. Mana knew better than anyone that the Onmiyoji were quite terrible at keeping quiet when they had something to say.

As Cross had said, it wasn't as though they were good at keeping quiet, but he saw it in their all too clear eyes that the emotion just wasn't there.

They didn't feel rage for Cross with all his bad habits and Cross himself could not stand it.

Even when a Yokai went out of control and killed one of their own, they cut the mad creature down not in rage but in pure unadulterated sorrow.

He knew what it was, though. He wasn't as stupid as some people might have believed.

Cross knew that Mana and those he stood with had abandoned fleeting and earthly emotions and desires long ago in their pursuit for true inner peace and happiness.

The Onmiyoji had left behind hunger or greed, jealousy or vanity, lust and hatred long ago. Some might think they lived a boring life with all those toxic flames snuffed from their lives but in truth, they actually felt life far better than most.

If the majority was anything like Cross, their anger and lust were strong and they could hide behind it to protect their fragile glass like being. It was easy, almost too easy to do, to evade the pain and breath just a moment longer.

Mana and those who trained with him weren't that way. They no longer let anger, lust, greed or vanity control them so, with those actions gone, all that was left to feel was love, happiness, and, more than anything, misery.

With the added effect of the fact that most usually became Onmiyoji to get out of the hold of depression after a loved ones passing or to find forgiveness for some serious crime, the Onmiyoji were usually quite sad people.

Their shields every human has to hide behind are torn down so everything life might just choose to throw at them is amplified one hundred times.

The worst part was that, for every hit thrown, for everything stolen, for every friendship broken, for every choking regret, for every life taken, they could never become miserable. They could never spiral into the hate and self pity Cross knew every single one of them wanted to feel, but rather they chose to pray to whatever god they chose to worship and thanked them.

They buried the human they once were, the only side Cross could manage to wrap his little mind around, and replaced it with the most awful sadness imaginable.

Perhaps that was why they were gifted with the ability to banish demons and purify ground; Because they had nothing else in this world.

It was compiled things and facts like this that, although bitterly, helped the Zoologist Cross to understand the Onmiyoji Mana just a little bit better.

And just when he thought he might escape the misery he knew plagued his friend, awful days like this one pounded the knowledge into his temple a thousand times over like a hammer does a nail.

Afternoon.

After slipping his ID card from the slot with ease, the little green bulb at the top of the out of place silver door in these mimicked tropics turned green and a slight vibration in the handle indicated that the exit of the Specimen Chambers was now open.

He opened the door like he had every day for the past seven or so years but this time, something was different.

Cross' first thought upon receiving the unwanted and utterly distasteful face full of dark pink feathers when unsuspectingly opening the exit to the specimen chambers was that it could not be Mana's stupid tengu because that tengu was red, the color of the blood he wanted more than anything to shed right now.

His head was forcefully jerked around, so quickly he thought he felt his neck snap, when the feathered creature fled from his face without so much as a single apology.

Cross the Zoologist began to fume with disappointment and rage upon catching a brief but painfully obvious glimpse of the familiar nuisances retreating form and letting the memory surface that, after being in the sun for too long, the bird child's feathers had turned a dark shade of pink.

The sound of fluttering wings faded into the vast silence of the chambers empty spaces, it's pink form disappearing into the light mist that clouded the ceiling like clouds in a genuine sky.

The man didn't curse. The man didn't even so much as move.

Instead, Cross let out a heavy sigh. He had grown too used to this kind of irritation to even be too bothered by it.

He didn't know how or why the wretched bird child was here, as he had been informed not a few hours previously by Mana himself that the man was going to be out with, and I quote, 'his little white one' (A completely ridiculous name, if a name at all, that Cross still had yet to find the logic behind), all day.

Cross didn't know if he was being pranked somehow or if Mana had just done something terrible that caused the bird child to flee from him like a bat out of hell but Cross knew for a fact that the Tengu despised it here and would never voluntarily wonder in here.

Suddenly, he heard another sound and he began to instinctively search for the source, despite his movements begin slowed by impending coffee withdrawals.

But off course, his gaze fell yet again to the exit of the chambers only to find a second form standing inside the doorframe like Cross usually found him looking as guilty as he had ever seen him.

He didn't need another second of heavy cynical observations to know that his friend had done something very bad. He had grown very good at telling these things and his friend had grown even worse at hiding them. It was almost as though he wanted to be found out or something.

"Okay, fess up." He bluntly stated, making sure to speak every syllable as a anything but a question, "What did you do, Mana."

Standing in front of Cross like he hadn't just committed every wrong possible was none other than the Onmiyoji himself, wearing the usual silk robe and arriving at the usual most inopportune times. Mana was clearly exhausted, his chest heaving with heavy breaths and his skin coated with a thin layer of sweat. He was hunched over, resting his hands upon his knees, his pale face hidden by the long strands of disheveled hair falling forward.

But then, like he hadn't made such a messy entrance at all, Mana composed himself immediately.

He stood up so straight so suddenly, Cross thought he might have hurt himself. With a bright smile, he brushed his filthy rats nest of hair behind his ear and neatly folded his hands in front of him.

"Oh," He said in the kindest, softest of voices, the sort he only used when he wanted to sweet talk his way out of trouble, "Hello Cross. How are you doing this fine evening? "

"Cut the crap." Cross snapped, "What did you do? What's the bird doing here?"

"Why is it always my fault?" Mana muttered, looking slightly disgruntled.

"Because it usually is, now," He replied as he placed a hand on the fragile Onmiyoji's with a frighteningly tight grip, "Talk."

Giving way to his persuasion, Mana sighed heavily in a way similar to how Cross sighed before, and that was never a good sign.

"By your question," He breathed, eyes closed, "I can safely assume the white one is in here?"

"Yes. You missed him by a second."

"Ah, that is good. Excellent."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Ah, right." Mana said with a slight jump on his ankles like he were preparing to run away, "You know Lenalee? Where is she this fine evening?"

"Lenalee? She is ast the usual spot. Wait, what does she have to do with this?"

Immediately, Mana's expression shifted from a sharp worry to the most fake glee Cross had ever seen.

"Oh nothing! It is nothing at all, really!" The Onmiyoji smiled as he dusted of his robe and collected the audacity to try to walk forward after Cross had had a rather difficult work day, "I think I'm just going to collect my white one and be on my way. See you soon!"

Honestly, he should have known better. Cross' hands had grown calloused over many years worth of this line of work and was not just about to let him go. He was capable of prying a Nure Onna's jaws open to remove a rock caught between its teeth without so much as getting scratched. What made Mana think hence couldn't crush his brittle little shoulder with his bare hands?

Mana groaned lightly in pain at the sudden tightening of his grip and stopped moving.

Alas, he caved.

"I have good news," He breathed, "And I have bad news."

And so, on the way to the place where Lenalee resided, the large rock by the man made lake, Mana told his friend everything; Every miserable patronizing detail.

"What, so the brat said something? "

"Not just something, Cross! He said his first word!"

"Well it's about time. I thought he would never mature past the infantile stage with the way you treat him."

"What's that supposed to mean? You sound displeased."

"Nothing. Just tell me the rest of the story."

"Oh, well it was simply the cutest thing ever, Cross! You simply must understand! You see, I was baking a cake on the stove; You know, the usual double decker triple chocolate mocha cream sugar malt top with cherry bits recipe that you taught me, only not even mildly as good; But anyways, the sort of cake the little white one really really loves oh so very much and then he just-!"

"He just what? Just get to the point, Mana!"

"Pretty!"

"What?! Where?"

"Not where, Cross, but when!"

"What the hell are you trying to say?!"

"It's what he said, Cross! That was his first word!"

"What, pretty? That's it?"

"It was so adorable! Absolutely positively stupendously extremely adorable! His voice was so high pitched and it had so much character to it and he had such good pronunciation! He sounded just like a little baby!"

"Yes, tengu will develop the ability to mimic sounds and words in their early years, because their vocal cords mature and strengthen. It is really not that big of a deal."

"It is a big deal! I've never heard a white tengu speak before!"

"Will you stop being ridiculous for two seconds and finish your stupid story!"

"Oh, right. Well, um……"

"Yes?"

"At the time of him saying this, well…."

"Out with it!"

"Okay okay! Look, the day before, when I came to retrieve him from this place, I found him by the lake playing with Lenalee."

"Hmm. Unusual. She doesn't normally play with the other yokai. That could be a sign she is improving, but if your little troublemaker is involved, I don't think that's the case."

"Yes, well, I said the usual thing to keep her at bay but when I did, you know, call her ordinary, the little white one was quite angry at me. The poor sweet thing must have thought I was insulting her or something. Anyways, he stayed mad at me the whole day, so I thought I'd make him something to make him feel better. You know, I made him the cake. Anyways, while I was making the cake, making sure not to scare him, I tried to explain to him that, though she is pretty, we can't call her pretty or ugly, otherwise she might go on a rampage…."

"Oh wait. I think I'm starting to understand…."

"Well, then he spoke his first word and immediately took off to the chambers! Cross, I just know he is going to call her pretty! What if she tries to hurt the dear!? What if she scares him when he only wanted to be kind to her?! Oh no, Cross, you have to help me! You absolutely must-!"

"Calm down before you give yourself a heart attack!" He snapped before he retracted, running a hand through his flaming red hair, walking past the familiar sectors he knew all too well, "Honestly, why am I even yelling…?"

This particular area was quite tropical. One could tell just by the humid air but the general surroundings also told tales of perfectly mimicked tropics.

The reason Lenalee most likely loved this place was because no one except the Kappa Johnny lived here to fish and play his little guitar. He always gave others their own space, being the unnaturally kind and considerate kappa he was, so she most likely found solace here, if she found solace in any place at all, anymore.

Cross understood that much but, as heavy breaths racked his body, he wondered why that rock by the lake had to be so darn far from the entrance? Was this a design flaw?

But at the sight of the tropics, Mana's heart visibly skipped a beat and, like he hadn't expended any energy at all, the Onmiyoji who didn't do much but wonder and eat vegetables, took off in a wild sprint, quickly disappearing begins the trees.

"What…?" Cross heaved, before forcing his weak legs forward to follow his friend, "Wait up, Mana…!"

Honestly, he thought, all this for some stupid red tengu.

Mana was protective, albeit a bit overprotective but just protective of his pet turned adoptive child of sorts. It was only normal that he would be protective of such a creature when said creature, though dead annoying, was incredibly dear to him.

Cross had already seen him loose what was most important to him once before, he had already seen everything his friend was shattered to pieces and he didn't quite care to see it once more, so he did understand. As previously stated, the Zoologist wasn't stupid.

Still, Mana could not let His emotions and fears get in the way of his logic. He had to understand that tengu and kuchisake Onna have coexisted for hundreds of years and neither are the others natural enemy. They weren't just going to suddenly be at each other's throats just because the stupid bird child learned a word.

Mana did not have to shave years of his lifespan away for something like this.

He certainly did not have to shave years away from Cross' lifespan by exhausting him this much, both mentally and physically.

 ** _(It's not very good. Sorry about that.)_**


	4. PINK PLUS WHITE

**_(Sorry that this chapter took so long to get out. I was taking a bit of time off writing to watch every BTS video on the internet only to jump out temporarily of that fandom and forget that Kpop even exists because #REASONS. Sorry again. I am being weird. Anyways, I own nothing except this really really odd au and I hope you enjoy. God bless you all. Also, please know that God loves you and is waiting for you to go to him. If any of you dear readers are suffering in ways that the world can't seem to fix, go to God. I'm positive you won't regret it. Anyways, have a wonderful Christmas and please enjoy.)_**

It wasn't as though Cross actually wanted to buy anything for Mana this brand new November passing but even a cynical man like him saw this as important.

Knowing all too well the pain of losing the one most important to him, he couldn't help but shed some concern on his long time friend's situation. When suffering from such a loss, to still have the memory of that one very special someone fresh in your mind, to still cherish the taste of their name on the tip of your tongue is to be trapped, held down by miserable chains.

Cross knew it was very easy when mourning to fall into a harmful repetition, a mental defense in hopes of keeping oneself in a perpetual denial of the loss it suffered. In a way, it was sort of like a desired groundhog day in which the person rejects change to keep that person's memory alive in hopes that that person may somehow live on.

He had seen it before with some Yokai, he had even experienced it himself, so the Zoologist was fully capable of seeing that his friend, the Onmiyoji Mana was going through the exact same thing.

Luckily for him, though, Cross would be there to perhaps ease him out of this rut as Mana had done the same for him long ago.

That being said, in order to preserve his reputation, he had to make it very clear that he did not actually wish to purchase anything for Mana's birthday, he just simply knew that if he didn't, the man would refuse yet again that any time had passed in his monotonous lifestyle and he fall deeper yet again into the familiar rut he had created.

Honestly, he blamed himself for not seeing it before as that dear dear person Mana mourned still was his own twin brother, the one he shared that birthday with and the one he always celebrated that day with.

Nea.

Nea, like Mana, was an Onmiyoji and a superior one at that. No offense intended, it was just simply that Nea was a genius, mastering every spell and talisman in a quarter of the time it took an average Onmiyoji to even grasp the concept.

He held an amazing mind that even had Cross envious but his personality was absolutely terrible; Cross never quite understood why Mana loved him so much.

But he knew the young Onmiyoji did not deserve to die the way he did.

Cross would never forget that wretched day.

Nea was killed some time ago in the forests outside of the temple. He was attacked by a rather violent creature, a yokai known as a Nue; A very dangerous breed of Chimera that resided only in Japan and feeds on human flesh. At least, that is what is thought about the Nue. No one knows for sure as a Nue has never been captured or studied. They are a bit too rare for that.

Cross came running as fast as he could when he heard the news.

Nue had already died when he got there. There was so much, too much blood. All Cross wanted in those moments was for him to sit up from the grass he lay in and admit that all this was just a distasteful prank, but deep down Cross knew that would never happen.

It took a lot out of him to examine the body. A bite to the neck was what killed him, which was expected as, judging by the records, Nue usually attacked the arteries. The odd part, however, was that there weren't any signs of a struggle.

To this day, it still perplexed Cross that one of the bravest and strongest people he knew would not put up a fight against a Nue.

But in his grief, he went into a sort of numb trance, burying himself in his work in hopes that those golden eyes, still wide with fear even in death, would no longer haunt him so.

That's why it was a shock when Mana, completely pale and soaking wet, thin hands caked in dirt and blood, showed up at his door at midnight that night.

Mana. Of course.

Cross had completely forgotten about Mana. How could he? How could he forget?

The poor man. His eyes were distant, out of focus, red and puffy, bloodshot and bruised. He didn't reply or respond in any way when spoken to. Even a slap to the face wasn't enough to get him out of his stupor.

He must have been there when it happened.

He must have watched his brother die.

He must have held him in his arms as he breathed his last.

The lazy, bratty, perfectionist who never knew when to shut up became nothing more than a silent doll who only rarely found his way to this nearly abandoned facility to the only person he could still claim as a friend.

And, of course, for the memory of the one lost that day and the memory of the one who could still be revived, Cross let Mana stay there for as long as he needed to.

It took a full month for Mana to speak a word again. Cross never thought a single "Hi" would ever sound so good in his life.

Though he started speaking again, the Onmiyoji still remained forever altered. Mana never recovered from the trauma, the grief, the horror. Cross knew that he never would. Losing someone that important right in front of you is not something you can recover from.

Cross knew this, but he also knew that there was a healthy and an unhealthy form of dealing with trauma.

His long time friend was spiralling quite far down the latter.

That being said, Cross did not actually want to get him anything for his stupid birthday. He knew so many better things he could spend his very few dollars on, but he would spend what he had on some cincy gift because he knew it was what his friend needed.

He needed something, anything really to acknowledge that time had past.

Cross might have relied on that stupid Tengu for it but he soon found the bird almost made Mana worse in some all too noticeable ways, so he made the decision to take matters into his own hands.

But of course, there were difficulties. Nothing in his life ever came easily.

He soon realized that, despite the vast knowledge stored in the database that was his mind, he actually had no idea what on earth his friend even liked.

Most of their conversations were centered around Yokai or Mana's duties as an Onmiyoji. Heck, he didn't even know what the man's favorite color was, much less what kind of sweater he would prefer.

It wasn't that he didn't care, it just wasn't in his nature to know or bother with these things.

He tried. In a last ditch effort, he went to the Yokai themselves to find some advice but that hardly helped. Most of the Yokai, even those with natural births, were seemingly ageless and cared nothing for birthdays while those who did, came to the same conclusion as him, that though Manas was a good friend, they had absolutely no idea what he liked.

They knew he liked the white one, the little red tengu he had with him often but that was about it.

Having a great deal of opinions and physical belongings was not part of the job as an Onmiyoji, in fact it was quite the opposite which made Cross' job quite a lot more difficult.

Yet despite this, Mana sure loved to use Cross' personal things for various reasons. He might have thought it a good idea to buy Mana some useful utensils of his own but if he did that, he might stop coming over to visit Cross every day and neither one of them needed to be more alone than they already were.

Even the Dodomeki, Wisely, who claimed to know all, was very blatantly stumped on the subject. Cross guessed it was that the request in question required actually genuine affection, which was something he was sure the creature lacked entirely.

Even the Jorogumo, Road Kamelot, was no different. After thoroughly subduing the spiders she sent at him she usually sent whenever he was in view, she proceeded to laugh and laugh, saying crazy things like how he should give the gift of a Nue's decapitated head. She continued to laugh in such a way that Cross knew she was scheming to misbehave but he did his best to ignore her.

But despite this, he knew he at least had to try.

So, a desperate Zoologist settled for a difference. It didn't matter in the end if it was pleasant or utterly miserable, only that something distinguished it from all the horribly mundane days prior.

So, Cross made the decision, albeit quite begrudgingly, to swallow his pride and invite Mana over. He had difficulty enough getting the words out, and he almost chickened out of the whole thing when Mana asked him to repeat himself but somehow, he managed to complete the whole thing. In the end, he thought he might have thrown up in his mouth a little.

But of course Mana smiled and agreed to it. He always did, only this time, Cross was painfully reminded by how strained and forced it truly was.

The white one, or so Mana called him, remained oblivious to the whole ordeal. Cross couldn't expect him to realize being hardly above the mental age of a small child. He knew it wasn't that the little bird child didn't care, he was just ignorant, innocent, and cared far more for the fact that he had grown quite a bit too big for Mana to carry on his shoulder.

In addition, the creature had also been put into quite a few foul moods with the poor man since Mana removed a bleeding feather he found in one of his wings. The brat, when put into foul moods, either wanted to be won over by chocolate cake or would shun his master almost cruelly, like the bleeding feather was Mana's fault.

For the most part, the other tengu in the chambers, the crow tengu and the red tengu, were old enough to remove their own bleeding feathers and Cross had faultily assumed that in letting the white one be around their habitat, they might assist him in such an endeavor, but he soon found himself to be wrong.

Link, the more friendly of the crow tengu he had rescued, had even told Cross himself in his usual blunt manner that the bird child had refused any and all help. He said that with what few words the bird had in his vocabulary, he did his absolute best to betray a meaning that if he did nothing himself, he would never grow into a true white tengu.

Cross didn't think much of the story. He just thought that Mana was telling him children's

The whole wretched ordeal was yet another occurrence the Jorogumo thought was the most hilarious thing she had ever heard. If bleeding feathers weren't a natural occurrence, he would have thought Road caused it in some way.

Once again, this was an issue because the white one was otherwise the only thing Mana had grown to like in this world since Nea's passing and if the creature was going to be so angry that he actually refused to look at his master, than this birthday was actually guaranteed to be miserable.

Midday. In the passing hours, the white one made himself so scarce, which was unusual. The nuisance was normally quite noisy and vibrant even in the worst of times. It was almost as though he were trying to get a reaction out of Mana, which he more than succeeded in doing.

The Onmiyoji looked as pale as the day he performed his first exorcism, which was as white as a sheet and shaken as a leaf in the wind. When he would call for the white one, his voice kept raising on unnecessary pitches and he kept cutting himself off as though he were just barely holding in a scream.

Even Link and the rest of his family hardly knew where the brat even was. It was odd because even Cross who wore prescribed glasses that a vibrant pink bird would be easy to spot.

The Kitsune Lavi hardly had a clue, either which was more or less concerning as the last place he could hide outside of Lavi's range of smell would be in the vents on the ceiling and Cross was not about to pay another grand or two for some team to go up there and clear the vents, even if some of the Yokai would get sick from the pollution. He just didn't think the headache was worth it.

Of course the ever keen Yuu would pick up on the hint. The odd thing was however, instead of genuinely worrying about the others health, he started using Alma's fragile state as an excuse, to hide behind an alternative meaning. Cross always knew when he was being lied to, be it man or beast. What, did this cold hearted Yuki Onna suddenly become soft for the brat without Cross' knowledge? What was this nearly abandoned facility coming to?

But Mana could hardly sit still, insisting that he look everywhere, anywhere to know that he was at least alright.

Cross tried to calm him down, saying that he could be anywhere, safe and sound, and would probably forgive Mana for pulling his bleeding feather when he got lonely and his chocolate cravings returned.

It really was not a big deal to him but Mana was acting ridiculous.

But this was hardly the first time he had behaved this way, and he doubted it would be the last. He noticed this mental illness, this instability, this madness long before, how he seemed to cling to the white one like a lifeline, beyond natural human attachment almost as though it were less than that.

More like, almost as though there were something more to it.

Perhaps that's what truly bothered him all along about their relationship, how it almost seemed too much, how something seemed to be strained in order to keep that imperfect mask together.

Perhaps it was that all he had ever done was spend his time working his life away and try his best to be the best friend he could in respect for the dead but he never quite saw the sentiment returned.

Perhaps what truly made his blood boil was how selfish Mana was sometimes, how he seemed to forget that Cross still mourned, that the memory was still painfully vivid in his mind, that he loved Nea, to.

Perhaps it just bothered the Zoologist to no end that he had tried quite hard to make things a bit easier for the other, when all he received in return was resistance and that same distant smile.

Perhaps it just bothered Mana just how weak he could be.

Honestly, he had already seen that face on a corpse once and it hurt him far deeper than he was comfortable in admitting to see it again.

It bothered Cross how his friend seemingly clung to a fairytale, losing nearly all his heart to an obsession with a white tengu, like such a thing could ever exist.

If he didn't know better, he might say it was the only reason he clung to that tengu so much.

But what was so important about the white tengu, he wondered.

Why did his long this friend chant that single wish so fervently, for the tenghu to turn white like it would suddenly become reality at his pleading?

Why would a creature about as real as Santa Claus be so important to Mana, he wondered.

He certainly was never this obsessed with the creature before, when they were children and read about it in story books. In fact, he was more times than one the first to disagree with the myth, so what changed?

Why the hell was the white tengu so important to him?

Reciting the summary of the myth in his head, he thought back on the tale.

The white tengu was thought to be the most powerful and beautiful tengu of them all. It was incredibly rare like a unicorn, so much so that it was said only one came around every century or so.

But it was sought out so fervently by so many because of its unique abilities.

Its voice was said to be able to make even the trees dance, it's feathers pure enough to make even the most filthy water clean. It's meet was said to guarantee immortality while its tears were able to grant a single wish.

But how was that even relevant? Why did that matter? What could all that possibly have to do with……

…..Oh.

And with that single thought, the truth suddenly hit Cross. He didn't expect it to, but with one simple answer suddenly everything made almost too much sense.

Months of odd behavior and bipolarity were sides explained in a blink of an eye and Cross was actually ashamed he had not the thought to see through the illusion.

Of course. The everything, especially the tears would have so much to do with someone trapped in mourning. A single wish. Of course. A single wish to revive the one lost so long ago.

Cross felt disgusted. He felt sick to his stomach, and he felt unbearably angry with Mana, that stupid common red tengu, but more specifically, he felt angry with himself.

Rage built up inside him when he realized that this suddenly explained everything.

This stupid stupid man turned to a fairytale because he couldn't take the reality of things.

Cross may not have liked the tengu. Cross may have disliked the stupid bird child with his entire being but that did not mean he thought it deserved to be used this way, to be trapped on the receiving end of a lie, by a lie, for a lie.

He was nothing more than a child, after all, and Cross could not believe he actually thought Mana was better than this.

This was cruel to that tengu, it was cruel to Cross but more than anything, it was like spitting on Nea's grave.

How did Mana actually think this was a good idea? Had he truly completely lost his mind?

He no longer felt a single ounce of pity. He no longer saw that Onmiyoji soaked in the rain, going to his facility for even the slightest bit of comfort. Instead, all he saw was red.

And just like that, he snapped.

He struck him across the face and told him exactly what he thought of him in those moments.

It was too easy, almost. The words slipped off his tongue like butter, like he were singing.

"Has this…" He gasped incredulously, "Has this really been what all this has been about?!"

But by the Mana averted his normally so genuine eyes, he could see clearer than anything that he had hit the nail right on the head.

He didn't even put up an effort to deny it.

What, did he not see anything wrong with what he was doing? Was he truly that proud of what he had done?

"Nea is gone, Mana! He died in that forest, killed by a Nue far too soon and he's never coming back!"

"All the begging and pleading in the world won't suddenly give you the desired result!"

"Some fairytale is not just suddenly going to fix that, you absolute idiot!"

"What, did you think he would want this?! Did you think he would want you clinging to an empty memory till you destroyed yourself?! Are you really that stupid that you think he would want his only brother to do this in his memory!?"

"But more than anything, why did you just use that poor bird when he did nothing but love you this whole time?! Did he truly mean nothing to you all along?!"

"Face it, Mana! White tengu don't exist and you need to let go!"

But Cross suddenly became aware that he was being watched. It only made sense he would be as he was laying a hand on Mana. So trusting, he thought as the most bitter of scowls grew upon his features like a mold.

With his fingers clawed into the collar of his silk robe, Cross pulled him closer to whisper coldly and sadistically into his ear, fully aware of the audience they had, "Well now I am played the fool. For a second, I actually believed you liked that tengu at all….."

And that was it.

Fully aware of what was going on, Cross released the man and let him fall limply to his knees like a rag doll.

Shock was the only readable feeling upon Mana's features as he turned his head so very slowly to the far right.

Perched upon a lower branch of an oak tree just a few yards away, though silhouetted by golden sunlight, was the recognizable and familiar pink form of none other than that tengu he searched so long and desperately for.

Silence consumed his entire being when the bird just stared at him emptily, quietly, no longer so very chipper and overjoyed simply to lay eyes on him once again another day.

The bond that once rang true and strong between the two individuals, unbreakable like iron, suddenly shattered like brittle pastry at his feet at the mirror look at the hurt and betrayal that consumed the creature's once childlike and innocent eyes.

For once, he had absolutely no idea what to say.

He knew full well that he had wronged him, but for reasons he was not quite sure of, it didn't matter to him until now, now that he looked the creature in its empty black eyes, almost as though his own stone cold heart were reflected in them.

In a mere second,this carefully crafted plan fell apart.

In a mere second, he was consumed with guilt.

Just as he reached out to beckon the creature forward, in a desperate attempt to perhaps create some sort of peace, the bird child, dear, sweet and innocent in heart, pushed off from his roost and took off into the opposite direction, flying straight into the veil of the distant fog.

"No!" He cried out, his wet eyes wide with desperation, "No, wait! Come back!"

But it was too late.

The only one that loved him anymore was gone.

Once again, Mana had ruined everything.

 ** _(Happy birthday Allen and Tyki. Merry Christmas and happy late birthday to me. I truly apologize for this awful chapter and thank you once again for all your support.)_**


	5. WHITE

( ** _Hehehe. He he. He. He. Hehe. Hehehehe. Sorry about this Jy24. Please don't hate me. This was just part of the original plan. I apologize to you all, actually. I know my ideas aren't that original…. And my writing quality fluctuates like crazy…… but….. I really…. Really…. Really like writing so so very much….. Anyways, I own nothing, and I hope you try your best to enjoy. Please. Pretty please. With a cherry on top. God bless all you lovelies.)_**

Lenalee was his friend, that much he was sure of. Though many feared her and her occasionally raging temper, she was always true and never once told him a lie, that much he was sure of in his short time upon this earth.

That's why he knew he could believe her tragic tale, knowing it to be without distortion or perversion.

According to her, she was once a beautiful human girl, normal and good in every possible way. She always did her best and tried to make art of her every day.

The only fault she had was that she was far too naive for this cruel world and she would pay for that dearly.

When love came in view, clad in a white robe, smiling to her as sweetly as honery, she embraced it openly and believed with her soul, mind, and body all the lies it told her. A man came into her life, seemingly angelic, seemingly the one for her and she married him.

He told her he loved her for who she truly was. He told her those three sweet words a million times over, she began to believe them. She believed him so she gave him her all.

But it was only when she was held down by the bonds of marriage that the illusions of white were cast down and he revealed his true colors.

Lenalee had once given everything to the man she loved more than all others but instead of giving something, anything that he promised, he took something that could never be returned.

The man she loved, the most important thing in the world to her, her own husband, took her life away.

That wretched man killed her. He killed Lenalee.

Even now, given a second life, she hadn't forgotten. How could she, anyway? How could she forget something so horrible when it left her once perfect face torn open and marred?

She could never forget. The angry, the regret, the misery, the sadness, the confusion, it consumed her wretched self like an animalistic instinct to this very day. He saw it in her obsidian eyes and he knew that she just couldn't let go.

That's why she could not hear those three words. She believed those words once but never again.

At first glance, she asks the question and if they call her ugly, she is inclined to kill them. She knows it not to be true and such awful and blatant liars are not worth her time.

However, if they call her pretty, she removes the mask and asks again. If the person calls her ugly, she is consumed with uncontrolled rage and she kills them then and there but if they call her pretty yet again, a pool of never ending misery opens up in her stone cold heart.

If she was beautiful, then why did he do it? Why did he kill her? What did she do wrong? What could she possibly have done differently?

Why did she have to die for that lie?

The spite builds up inside her like a flame spreading through a dry and dead forest, leaving nothing but destruction in the ashes of its wake, and leads her to track that person down with nothing but their scent and kills them in their sleep, in the comfort of their own home.

She would do this because never again would she fall for empty words. Lenalee would never again let herself fall prey to lies. Deception would never worm it's way through her iron armor ever again.

Never again.

Never again.

Never again.

She was a vessel for nothing but raw bloodlust; She knew she would never change from this path till she was taken from this earth as second time and she knew this better than any other ever would.

When he first heard her story, though grim and terrible as it may be, rather than scared, he felt pity for her, knowing that this pain she felt was now inseparable from her being and that, no matter how dear a friend a tengu like him managed to be, he could never truly relieve her of it; Rather, he could probably only provide a temporary distraction from it, for her to forget who she was just long enough for her to smile.

He didn't mind the purpose, especially not when it was a purpose valued by Lenalee herself. She was such a sweet girl and he could never complain if it was for her benefit.

But one thing he never suspected was that he might end up feeling slight, minor as it may be, kinship with her tragic tale thinking to himself to that lies came clad in white with a smile brighter than the sun and words softer than the clouds that blocked it from view.

The rain clouds came upon him like a crouching predator.

The small droplets of clear water fell fast and heavily like his wings were being slapped by a thousand and two tiny hands.

He was always used to witnessing the phenomenon known as precipitation from behind the glass of a window because he had heard that being left outside in the cold would make him sick.

In his current state of mind, he was inclined to believe that that was false and a lie told to win his trust but by the growing toxin of wretched feelings increasing in size by the passing heartbeats, he was inclined to doubt that sentiment.

But unfortunately for him, it didn't matter in the end because he would never see that nearly abandoned facility where the only friends and family he ever knew resided ever again, so he kept flying as quickly as he could, not really sure where he was going.

A nameless tengu like him was not sure why, but recalling that tale in his head under the heavy rainfall, the story and all its details were no accompanied by tastes, smells, touches, sights and feelings. It wasn't that he became a telepath, it was simply that in thinking back, he imprinted his own feelings of heartbreak upon the tale.

He was narcissistic, self centered, naïve that way as well.

But his experience was distinguished by a few key features in his defense.

For one, he was quite young. Being in that particular facility accompanied by that particular person was all he knew. He was physically incapable of thinking outside of the box or beyond the chains he bound himself with. There was only one path he ever knew how to walk so what was he supposed to do when it turned out to be dead end? To his knowledge, there was no instinct that helped you get through difficult times in relationships. Recovery was something to be learned. There was nothing wrong with him for feeling so lost.

For the second point, he didn't fall for empty words. He was intelligent enough not to believe a word of what anyone said to him, so much so that he hardly even understood a word spoken to him. He only learned to speak somewhat around half a year ago so that was to be expected. He did not fall for empty words or hollow promises but rather he fell for actions and feelings.

He fell for kind motions like a dance witnessed when he thought no one saw him, like the careful arrangement of leaves for him to sleep on or the picking up of some disastrous mess he made without complaint or angry comment.

He fell for hugs and kisses, touches and affections he thought he hated at first but quickly discovered he didn't want to live without.

He fell for the food, each dish different completely from the one before it in some way, each one unique and intriguing in some way, not to mention delicious like something straight from a dream, made with love he didn't deserve down to the most intricate detail.

He didn't fall for words because no words were spoken. He fell for what went unspoken, the love he saw in those brown eyes, the tears shed when he was hurt, the dedication, the intimacy, the childlike simplicity.

He fell for the feelings that consumed his heart, the feelings he thought were love and to this day, he still had no idea how he let himself fall so hard.

It was love. It was something warm and pure, consuming like fire and yet kind and comforting like a father. It was the difference between a flower and a weed, an angel and a demon.

It was a fragile thing that cut deep like a blade. It was a weak thing that broke through the armor of the heart like an army through the castle walls, the sorts of warriors he heard about in those storybooks.

It was a shared loved. It was real, or so he thought but like Lenalee's example stated, he was naive and it was because of that that he felt this excruciating pain in the rather frantically beating organ behind his brittle little ribs.

It was because he had the mind of a child that he actually genuinely believed that a greater distance between him and the person he longed for so badly would somehow lessen the pain.

The thoughts were not wanted but they plagued him anyway, the sorts of thoughts Lenalee must have had on a daily basis.

What did he do wrong? Was it true he didn't love him, that he didn't even want him at all? Not even once? What did it all mean? What did he do right? Was he nothing but a burden? Was that why he hated? What was he supposed to think? What was truth? What was he supposed to think? What was he even supposed to do now?

He knew nothing of nature, he knew nothing of the prey, what he should eat, what would eat him, where he would even find chocolate in all these wild forest trees.

He didn't even know how to survive on his own, but if he was truly not wanted in that place he once called home, then he would die here.

Feeling alone would always be superior to being choked out by the indescribable pain he felt knowing that he was unwanted, unneeded, unloved by the only person he ever truly wanted those inconvenient inefficient things from.

But he would have done it. He would have tried to become whiter than even the freshest of snows in the prime of winter if only the love were there.

He would do anything for him, so why?

Why?

It was betrayal, he knew.

Soon, the heavy rainfall became too strong for him to handle.

There was no way of knowing when the numbness stole his consciousness and a sudden slumber of the mind knocked him out of the sky but the last thing he remembered before darkness was falling, wondering with the last few remaining thoughts if Lenalee and the others would miss him now that he was gone.

Then all went black.

Silence. Since of the heart, mind and soul.

Nothing was heard. Nothing was said. Nothing was done.

Nothing.

Kind and deceptive smiles from the treasured one clad in white were all wiped away, disappearing into the pool of darkness were they were consumed, seemingly never to be seen again.

Suddenly, the tension in his body dissipated and the raindrops blocking vision cleared up.

Everything was just so easy like this, surrounded from head to toe by the land of dreams, by the substance that physics and logic still had yet to ruin, where heartbreak couldn't lay a finger upon his fragile heart.

It was nice here.

Perhaps it wasn't exciting or interesting, but it didn't matter because here, he was at a perfect rest.

But suddenly something happened. He noticed a difference between the perfect nothing and the something, a stone that caused the waves in the small puddle of dreams he indulged in.

When the dreamless sleep began to fade, he recalled once again thinking of Lenalee, hoping, praying, wishing she might have this, a place of dreams, of perfect rest, of peace, of a undisturbed quiet.

When at last he was dragged out of his slumber, it felt all too soon but that odd sound wouldn't let him continue to slumber.

"Hyooo…… Hyoooo….."

It was an odd, inhuman sound, haunting like the call of a yurei.

Just what was it?

He had no idea where he was or how long he was asleep but it didn't seem to matter. The world seemed to spin and tilt like it were dancing, everything a blur of green and brown like the rain had run over some kind of forest painting, with a slight red lenses going over his vision following the pattern of his heartbeat.

What was the purpose of this sudden glaze, he wondered, and why was everything so out of focus?

Was he still dreaming? But he was so sure he woke up.

Just what had happened to the world around him?

The air all around him was heavy. He was not entirely sure how to describe it but it was like it smelled of danger, like he instinctively knew he were inhaling some sort of fumes but his own exhausted body kept him down.

Why had he. Gone to sleep so suddenly?

The tengu just assumed he passed out from exhaustion. He had been flying for quite a long time and he was very hungry, so it was the only explanation he could think of. His mouth felt salty, dry, full of fuzz, but not in the way brought on by dehydration.

His tongue hung from the side of his gaping beak, tasting the awful dirt he lay on like it were a pillow to sleep on and he was completely at a loss of why he was unable to close it. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't move the muscles in his jaw to close his beak.

Upon his mind falling back into his skull, he also soon realized that his entire being ached a cold, painful, dull ache like he had been drained of all blood, like he were feverish, like the substance pumping through his veins was beginning to solidify and turn him into a stone statue.

Something was holding him still. All the parts of him could twist and twitch with the soul exception of this one area on his lower back. More than that, he felt pressure there like someone were holding him down there.

At last, something else entered his exhausted mind. There was no danger in sight but he felt a jolt of fear. There was nothing but empty atmosphere blanketing him on his forest bed but he still felt extreme claustrophobia.

All that the tengu knew was that he had to move, he had to escape, he had to get out. It didn't matter where, just anywhere but here.

He was immediately conscious of the cold liquid leaking through his thick layer of feathers. Thinking it was just rain water, he ignored the syrup texture and the strong nauseating scent of iron.

Really, there was no fear in those moments, only discomfort which must have been why it felt like an eternity before he finally summoned the strength into his small muscles and pushed off the ground.

He didn't accomplish much. His ability to move was almost so frivolous, he got angry at himself.

Dizziness and weakness caused his body to give out yet again falling back to the ground onto his back a few inches away.

But something rather unnerving occurred after.

He wasn't really sure what it was he observed upon the spinning world calming its rapid movements. He was far too innocent so he had no idea what it was he knocked out of place upon turning over but when his vision came into focus, he was shocked to observing some sort of appendage on his person he hadn't previously been aware of.

Yes, another appendage aside from those he was born with, a large silver rope like thing emerging from his stomach because as disturbing as this suddenly appendage was, he absolutely refused to think of the other possibility. His child's mind wouldn't allow it.

A slick silver appendage, thick like a mans arm and seemingly reaching out as far as the eye could see. No matter how hard he tried to concentrate, he really had no idea what it could possibly be, only further reassuring himself that it was in fact truly there. It shimmered and visibly pulsating under the little light that was shed upon this bizarre and nightmarish scene he witnessed but what he saw next made his little heart nearly stop beating.

He hoped it was an appendage because the other possibility was far too disturbing for him to consider but he was never that fortunate before, why would he be fortune now? But of course, he had no idea there was something sharp was sticking into his stomach till he moved on His back and moved it out of place.

But at last, the silver appendage, much to his horror, retracted.

From his stomach was retracted a several sharp teeth, a mouth baring many rows of fangs drenched in what he could only assume to be his own blood.

It soon became clear to him that this was no arm, no appendage he grew in His sleep as he may have hoped.

His dark eyes bulged in fear, his pupils dilating in delirium, as the bird child looked straight into what he knew to be a snake with no eyes retracting its powerful jaws from his flesh.

A snake.

He didn't pay attention to the pool of blood forming on his abdomen. He hardly even noticed, hardly even felt the warm liquid spill over from his sides. He was to mesmerized, enraptured, his entire mind consumed by this creature, this nightmarish monster that should not have existed here in front of him.

He just stared, completely vulnerable and aware he would fall prey to it's malice and bloodlust before it suddenly let out a harsh his, green saliva, poison perhaps, spraying forth as it was suddenly pulled back beyond his line of sight, retreating behind the shadow of nearby trees, vanishing like it had never existed to begin with.

He hadn't breathed.

Two red eyes glimmered in the silent darkness. No pupil or iris, only recognizable as eyes because of the thirst, the anger, this pure sin only a beating heart could produce.

Two eyes of red looked at him with familiarity and somehow he knew, he just knew these were the snakes true eyes. Misplaced eyes crested into the sockets of the face of a monkey thirsting for blood while the monkeys deadly fangs were misplaced in the mouth of the snake.

Surely this wasn't the Nue he heard of, the rare demon that attacked anything that moved without sense.

Surely it couldn't have been.

The resemblance was there but this creature was one of the rarest known Yokai. This had to have been some sort of nightmare.

Both gazed upon him in an unfamiliar way, the way a predator would, steam and poisonous saliva dripping from their agape jaws.

Poison. Of course.

This creature, this disturbing abomination joined at the tail into one being, were they responsible for this daze? Did they bring him down? With their poison, did they catch him vulnerable in this nightmare?

Just what were they? Did they want to kill him?

The sharp ringing was all that filled his ears now, but perhaps he was just deafened to what other sounds there were to hear, what other objects there were in creation, calling to him, screaming for him to run, to use his feet to get out of this nightmare as soon as possible.

His body felt so numb, so heavy, like it were a separate thing from his being, weighing him down but he kept trying, knowing full well he might die if he didn't.

He assumed by his movement that his talons had succeeded in pushing himself backwards but panic welled up in his chest to see that it made no difference because the creature only came closer, further into the light, allowing its every disgusting detail to be revealed to his vision.

Heart beating so fast, the nameless tengu thought it might burst, he began to long for home, or that nearly abandoned facility he coined home, the place with food, friends, a place to rest his head, safety.

Love may not have been there, but perhaps he would have preferred it to the cold hearted hatred and malicious. Perhaps the one he cared for may have lied, but never once had he made the acquaintance of this creature in the facility.

Closer.

Closer.

Closer.

Soon, he could yet again smell the blood in its breath, coming to the horrifying conclusions that most of the blood wasn't even his.

It had found, killed, mutilated many before him. It was going to kill him and he would not be the last, that, he knew for sure.

He began to regret it, his movements slowing in exhaustion, slowly giving up in the battle against his own impending death.

Regret built up inside his nerves, thinking about how it seemed so right in his childish mind at the time to run from the facility, even when that jerk Cross told him not to. He thought nothing but hateful thoughts when Cross and that person told him not to do it, to come back, to return, but he didn't listen and now he was here.

He would never taste chocolate or enjoy Lenalee's company ever again. He would never antagonize Yuu or slip out of Alma's murderous bear hugs. He would never get pranked by Lavi or fish with Johnny ever again.

He would never grow to understand Wisely or Road like he wanted to.

He would never break Cross' things for no reason ever again.

He would never sleep all day and cause trouble all night just because he was bored.

He would never grow up, he would never have dreams, he would never have nightmares.

He would be no more.

But more than anything, more than all that, his greatest regret was that he would never see that one special person ever again.

The memory was fresh in his mind, the kindness, the love, the things he treasured. All too late, the nameless tengu realized that perhaps what truly bothered him was that, despite not being lived, the tengu still loved that human man more than anything, more than the sun, the moon, or the stars in the sky.

Even if he wasn't love, even if he was hated, he still couldn't erase what was in his heart.

It was enough to keep him nailed there, no matter how painful it was. Love was a powerful force. Somehow, he just couldn't hate him. The mere thought was repulsive, wrong.

Perhaps that was what Lenalee missed. Perhaps what one needed to free themselves from the spite, the pain, the hatred, was the realization that the only reason why they lingered was because the love lingered.

Perhaps it was forgiveness that would free the both of them.

Perhaps love was a double edged blade that way.

With that final thought, he closed his heavy eyes and stilled his limbs.

There was no point in running anymore.

The only thing that occupied his mind in that moment was that person, Mana.

He wondered, he hoped, he chose to believe that maybe, even if he wasn't loved, Mana might miss him anyway.

That thought gave him peace before all went dark.

Before everything returned to that empty silence.

Darkness.

Silence.

Except.

Except it didn't.

Everything did not disappear in that moment.

Everything did not disappear in darkness and silence in that moment, but rather quite the opposite.

The whole dull forest imagery brought down in splendor by the heavy midday rain clouds was brought to life suddenly, unexpectedly, without warning by a sudden burst of light and one of the loudest sounds he had ever heard in his life.

Temporarily blind and deaf, thrown back by a strong force, it took the nerves a solid seven seconds to register the heat.

A strong flickering heat, even his numb and paralyzed could feel that it was a very large flame.

Flame.

Fire.

His mind registered the information.

Something had exploded in the middle of the forest, a place where there shouldn't have been any gas leaks or other spontaneously exploding substances.

But even with his dazed frame of mind, he recalled a faint bitter familiarity.

Where had something like that happened before?

But before the bird child could finish that half baked thought, he soon found that his body was being moved. Not only moved, but being picked up from the ground.

He would have panicked, thinking that what was picking him up was that Nue like creature's jaws as to consume him and one bite but instead, he remained calm, his heart rate slowing down because rather than being crushed by some strong confinements, he was picked up and swept away by a pair of gentle and familiar arms.

The scent was one he knew, as well.

There was that word again. Familiar. Just what had picked him up from his forest grave? Just what or who had saved him from that monster? An angel? He sure hoped so. He had more than enough fear and sadness for today.

But he had never made the acquaintance of angels, at least not to his knowledge, so who could it be who held him close, placing pressure upon his bleeding stomach, and carried him far swat to where the fire no longer burnt at his dry feathers?

After what felt like an eternity, his fragmented senses seemed to be pieced back together, bit by bit. Instead of darkness and a deafening ringing like that of a continual bell, faint fuzzy images blurred with quick motion behind his closed eyelids and the distant chorus of sharp growls and echoing footsteps filled his ears.

More than that, nausea set in heavy like a weight on his stomach, twisting and churning his insides till he thought they might snap.

He was sick, cold, bleeding, and sore all over. He would have been scared, he would have been terrified but the whispered assurances of whoever held him kept him of a calm heart.

This was all to familiar a situation.

So, without further ado, with steal resolution, he made the decision to resist sleep and open his exhausted eyes.

The sight that greeted him both comforted and frightened the nameless tengu.

The image was faint, foggy, but he knew full well who it was now.

Perhaps the only thing keeping him from realizing it moments before if he had merely used his mind to think, rather than dwell on the doubt.

The boy never liked those fire shikigami. They were loud, too bright, too chaotic but the Onmiyoji like his Mana were so very fond of using them for every reason possible, such as lighting a fire, knocking down a tree, or waking up other Onmiyoji for their daily routine. That jerk Cross had said many times that the lot of them were just a bunch of pyromaniacs, whatever that meant.

The summoning of one was easily done, simply by writing the word and the symbol on one of the blessed talisman and throwing it a safe distance away from one's self. The tengu had seen, heard and grown to despise it so many times in this past year, you might think he would recognize it as a far sweeter melody in his time of need, but looking into Mana's large distressed eyes, he realized just how much of a child he still might be.

"-Ook at me! Are you alright?!" The same voice. Far too clear. It was him. It was Mana. He was truly here.

And in the embrace that followed, all his pain disappeared.

He hadn't realized it before, but the majority of his aches and pains were not physical, but in his heart rather and to leave it behind was to have a great weight lifted from his shoulders.

What was blood in comparison to sadness. Sadness left him in free fall, while blood, while pain convinced him that he was yet still alive.

How could it even be compared? One might as well compare a migraine to breath. It was unfair, unbalanced, inadequate.

But in his arms, he realized that truth, finding it hard to believe he ever doubted it.

In the others arms, he soon realized much to his horror, fear had tormented him so fervently because the love he felt had consumed him. It had become his heart, his lungs, his mind, his stomach, his wings, his feet, his ears, his everything, a part of him inseparable from the rest.

To have this love threatened, to fear for its existence was to fear for his own. He had grown so much under that love, that to have it die would be his own demise.

It was frightening, almost more terrifying than any nightmarish monster to see how weak and dependant he had become but in Mana's warm, trusting embrace, all he felt was comfort and security.

Somehow, even if his love wasn't returned, it didn't matter to him.

It didn't matter to him because Mana himself and what Mana wanted was more important to him. Beside, if the person he loved mattered less, then he would not have loved Mana at all.

Somehow, love was more powerful than he ever thought possible.

Double natured, freeing and holding, certain and full of possibilities, a wave and a particle, a light illuminating all that was hidden in the dark rather than a rope.

Just like those stupid Shikigami Mana used to kill that Nue, he used to fear love, but now he embraced it.

And at last, he pressed his beak into the man's shoulder to show that he would be fine and Mana breathed a sigh of relief, letting out all the tension in his body, and pulled him closer to him.

The tengu did not need to see to know that Mana fell to his knees in those seconds.

"Oh goodness…." He whispered over and over like a broken record into his feathers, desperation but an immeasurable amount of joy evident in his voice, "Oh, thank goodness….. I was so worried……!"

A hand pet his back softly but retracted, probably when it came back red with blood.

The tengu wished he hadn't stopped.

"Don't…." He hissed through clenched teeth, "Don't ever…. Don't ever do that again….!"

It didn't bother him that the world began to spin yet again.

It didn't matter because everything was perfect.

"Once….. Once was enough….. I can't lose what's most important….. Ever again…."

"I know I'm stupid….."

"Cross was right, maybe once…. But…. But not anymore…."

"Maybe once, I just muniplated you…. But it's not that way…. Anymore…."

"You have…. Have…. Have to under….."

The tengu didn't even feel his and Mana's bodies hit the forest floor.

All his tired mind registered as sleep began to consume his consciousness yet again, was the hint of sorrow that now plagued Mana's voice.

Why was he sad? Had he done something wrong?

Why was Mana crying?

"Ow…."

"It hurts…."

What hurts? The monster was gone, so what could be hurting Mana?

What did he have to do to take the pain away?

"Neah…. He was everything….to me….."

"... He died…. For me….."

Two puddles of blood as warm as life itself mingled together, two heartbeats joined together in the bond of an embrace, beating as one.

"I wanted…. To die, you know…."

"... Silly…. Me….. I thought I could use…. The wish to….. Erase myself…."

"All…. my fault……"

His breathing became heavy and ragged, though he were choking on something.

The warmth of his embrace was being lost, so the tengu pushed closer instinctively.

Shivers wracked his small form.

So cold.

"But it changed, you see…."

"I wanted you…. To mature, but how could I expect you to do that, when I could not even let go of the past…."

"I… I was being a child…."

"I realize that now…. I'm so sorry…."

"I should have grown up, stopped believing…. In fairytales and focused on what really…. Truly matter…."

"I'm so…. So sorry….."

"Please forgive…. My stupid self…."

Of course. He always would.

Black static filled his vision like tears.

"Sorry….. I-I'm sorry…. F-for everything…."

"I-I couldn't do it again…. Not to that nue again…."

"Th-Thank you f-for being w-w-with me…."

"You were not…. White…. B-But you w-were wh-white to m-me…."

"Y-You did n-not…. Revive m-my past, but….. You…. G-gave me a….. Future….."

"Th-Thank you….."

"T-Thank… you…."

"Thank…."

The words echoed in his deafened ears.

Out of sync the heart rates fell.

Cold the embrace became.

"I…. Love….you…."

And sleep claimed them both like a thief in the night, like a predator in the forest, like an army pillages a village.

Both slept but only one would wake up.

A wound taken for the innocent one, for the most important one. The sinful one was determined never to repeat the mistakes of the past even at the cost of his present.

With innocent eyes, the important one, a common red mountainous tengu, an animal beheld the wounds upon his Mana's back, four long gashes from a Nue's claw, the last act of cruelty the wretched creature inflicted upon The tengu's world.

When had it happened? Could it have been when he first found him? Did they hurt? If so, then why didn't he say so? Why did he just endure the pain so quietly like it hardly bothered him?

The wounds bled rivers of warm blood, blood wreaking with the monsters poison.

The tengu was soaked head to toe in that now cold blood and he knew, he knew the one who possessed it originally lacked his immunities.

Though he rose from sleep the other didn't.

When Mana was pulled out of his grasp, his poisoned mind panicked instantly.

Without him it was too cold, so why was he leaving.

He had little strength to move his body, but with the little strength he had, he dared to open his eyes.

Why was Mana so pale? His eyes were still wide open, so why were they so without light, so glazed over? Why didn't he even see the nameless tengu when he reached for him?

He didn't know if he said his name, he could not hear if he did, but Mana did not move, not even so much as flinch in response.

He no longer heard the gentle reassuring thump of a heartbeat and it left him so scatterbrained. He could hardly collect his thoughts enough to think clearly.

The tengu hardly thought when he saw Cross in this forest scene, thinking himself back in the facility so the Zoologists presence was normal. The bird child thought things would be okay now because was always so calm and collected, so mature and sarcastic when it came to situations that involved blood. He never panicked or showed any kind of emotion.

That's why he thought it wrong, a glitch in nature's perfect code to see the tears.

Tears lightly rimmed Cross' remorse filled eyes.

What?

This wasn't right.

Cross didn't cry.

Why would he? Nothing was wrong.

Anger sparked up inside him, however, when he realized that it was none other than Cross who took Mana away from him.

That was so like him. He always was like that, but that didn't mean it made him any less angry.

Why did he take him away? More than that, why did Mana just let himself get taken away? Why didn't he fight back at all?

He tried to speak but all that came from his beak was a groan akin to that of a dying animal. It wasn't even all that loud. It was pathetic sounding and only filled him with more rage.

He didn't understand.

He thought Mana loved him.

What on earth was going on?

Why was it so hard to speak past the lump in his throat?

Why was Mana not moving? Was he still sleeping? Why didn't his chest move? More than that, why wasn't Cross treating his wounds? Didn't he know it could get infected if left exposed out in the forest?

Did he not even care?

Why did he do nothing but shake his head, muttering unclear and inaudible things, about how "It was only an animal" and how he "Told him not to".

But why did he call Mana so stupid? Why didn't Mana get offended like he normally did? Just what was going on?

Was he still dreaming?

Was this all just one frightening nightmare?

Surely not.

Surely he would wake up and all would be okay again.

Surely he'd open his eyes and his world would be perfect again.

Surely he'd rise from this daze and Mana would no longer be this motionless doll he saw before him.

It was wrong.

He was filled with spite, anger, rage.

Never again.

Never again.

He tried to speak but all that fell were tears.

The bird child began to cry because he was not truly the child he once was and a part of him knew.

A part of him knew Mana was dead.

He just didn't want, couldn't, shouldn't, wouldn't except it.

But something had changed.

Love had changed him.

The tears fell in heavy streams but just as Mana's robes were dyed white to red, the water of the tears changed what was thought to be a common red tengu.

A miracle occurred that day.

The tears fell and washed away the blood from his feathers but what was seen underneath were crisp and clean white fibers.

White. No trick of the imagination.

Clear white as bright as the brightest of loves.

White.

White because love changed him.

Love made him feel strengthened.

It made him feel as though anything was within his grasp.

So.

With a tear streaked face, the little white tengu wished.

He wished.

With all his heart and soul.

That the wretched creatures.

Known as Nue.

Never existed to begin with.

And just like that.

In response to his heart's desire.

Everything.

Stopped.

Returning.

To silence.

And darkness.

 _The physics of a dream,_ _As improbable as it may seem,_ _Is thought impossible to redeem,_ _Torn apart at the seems,_ _By the evil deemed science._ _The idea of science,_ _The science of the essence,_ _The essence of the presence,_ _The presence of the standing._ _This chosen social standing,_ _The dreams notwithstanding,_ _The feet firmly planting_ _In an ideology so stranding,_ _When the natures are pandering to everything but fact._ _The fact being_ _That nothing is what it is seeming,_ _That no one truly knows what God is scheming,_ _What they can't hear over the choir of screaming being the truth._ _The truth being sown,_ _Nothing is set in stone,_ _Nothing is lost no matter how far thrown,_ _Nothing is known, everything is shown._ _What is shown being the irony._ _How can such cynical creatures cope in this liquid reality?_

 ** _(Aaaaaa, this story is so bad! Yes, if anyone is still wondering about this story, that's supposed to be the same Nue that killed Nea and it only killed Nea because Nea needed to give Mana enough time to escape. Also, yes, lovelies, the tengu is supposed to be Allen. Anyways, he's a white tengu now and everything has been a bit reset. The writing was bad and sorry about the switch in pov but I wanted this to end in 2017 so I am rushing it a bit. Sorry again. You will get an epilogue called "PRISM". I do hope to see you then. Be safe! Happy new year! Happy birthday Taeyung Kim! God bless!)_**


	6. PRISM

(I own nothing and I hope you enjoy. Thank you for all the lovely souls who followed, favorited or commented on this fic, you have no idea how much I appreciate it. Originally, this was supposed to be a relatable fic about moving on from grief with a happy ending but I didn't portray that all that well. Sorry. Once again, thank you so so much and I hope you enjoy. Please stick with me for future works. God bless every single one of you and I hope you have an amazing new year! God bless!)

Take the moon,

Take the stars,

Take the real,

Take the farce,

Take my mind,

Take my heart,

Take my beginning,

Take my start,

Take those truths,

Take those lies,

Take my lips,

Take my eyes,

Take my near,

Take my far,

But in return,

Please,

Give me all that you are.

"...A-Are you an angel…?"

Mana did not really know why he said it, or what had possibly caused him to formulate those words but they fell from his lips with the ease of a song lyric.

The young prodigy, Mana Campbell, a normally cool headed youth, stood upon this moonlight soaked hill in somewhat of a state of dreamless dreaming, caught in an in between mock reality, swept away by the listlessness of sleep.

In all his days he never found himself pulled so relentlessly from bed in the middle of night. There was no way of telling what invisible voice, what unseen force took a little lamb like him by the hand to this place so far from his temple but somehow, he felt no fear, only the warm hand of comfort upon his beating heart.

"... P-Please say something…."

But it hurt.

It hurt so bad.

The ethereal vision of pure white that stood before him, luminescent like the moon itself but fragile like its image upon the waters surface, easily shaken like a leaf in the wind.

A youth, just a little younger than him, clad in a cloak of the most pure white feathers, so bright the image was signed into his eyes. It hurt to look so the tears fell but the kind vision was more than a perfect illusion.

Illusion, yes. It was not a dream because his senses were clear, telling him that this creature, this unearthly presence radiating nothing but the purest of love and kindness did not live on the same plain of existence as him.

He was not of this world, or at least not of this reality. That much, he knew to be true.

Perhaps that was why his feathered body seemed to be enveloped in light under the veil of night.

"Please…." Mana begged.

It was an alien emotion that fell over him without warning, taking hold of His mind and seizing control of his body. It was alien, but it was his own love that fell upon his heart and crushed it. He didn't know how it was possible, but it didn't make it any less real.

So he wept openly into the palm of his hand.

"I-I-..." He gasped as he buckled over, his knees hitting the grassy plain, "I-I don't know what's going on-..."

The pressure built up behind his ribs, throat and eyes. It made it so hard to breath and yet he had no idea how to stop this feeling that consumed his being like a fire.

Mana had seen many things, made the acquaintance of so many Yokai and unusual creatures but nothing ever prepared him for this encounter, nothing had dulled his senses or damaged his mind enough to give him the bravery to endure this.

He couldn't breath, he couldn't stand, he could hardly even think, but he wasn't scared.

When the creature of white reached its slender claws forward and cupped His face on either sides, he felt nothing but love.

Love for this strange creature he surely never met before.

What could it mean?

But at long last, the angel opened his lips and he spoke, voice as sharp and clear as crystal shards.

"Do not mourn." It said, "It's because of the wish that my existence has become an anomaly, a contradiction."

A moment of the most pure silence passed by.

Mana did not understand so he did not answer. His heart understood every syllable so it replied in his place.

"This is all my doing…." He muttered miserably, "This…. This shouldn't have happened…."

Blood red eyes peered into his soul, "Do not feel at fault. It was my wish. It was my doing."

"But I forced your hand…." His voice a mere gasp for air, a faint whisper.

But then the angel smiled a smile that broke his heart, "And I don't regret what I have done. I would have given you the moon and stars if I could. This was the very least."

A voice so sweet and warm, cold and clear, soft and stern one might think it were the magic behind a melody.

In the trees, the hitodama danced in gaiety, the mighty byakko bowed their mighty heads.

In the rivers, the Aosaginohi sang songs and the Amabie clapped their hands in joy.

In the skies, the fenghuang and the mighty dragon danced side by side under the light of a great fire.

They celebrate for one reason and one reason alone.

A new Daitengu had been born. The name and title of Daranibo was inherited in the most least likely of places, by a common red tengu of all things. Mount Fuji would be protected at last, the blood of the innocent, both human and yokai, would no longer spilled upon this soil.

They rejoiced with all their hearts because love had made the least of them great.

They rejoiced because this was a joyous day.

But Mana did not see this. All he saw were the eyes staring back into his, his world so small, as small as a sparrow, but bigger than anything he had ever known.

What he felt was love, a pure and good love, only felt by the best of hearts, and it was this love that gave him power.

He knew this when the angel pulled him into a familiar and all too painful embrace one last time.

"I love you, God loves you, and he loves you."

"Let all grudges fall away like the invisible bonds they were."

"When you cry, I cry and I will go to you."

"Don't ever forget me."

"Goodbye, Mana."

"Goodbye, dear father."

"Goodbye."

All returned to silence and darkness, something on his breath half spoken, half breathed, half wished, half prayed.

Words built up somewhere between Mana's heart and lips were cruelly aborted when his mind was suddenly and violently forced into consciousness.

He tried his best to resist the pull but it was already too late.

"No!" He screamed, sitting straight up.

His shrill voice had to echo back at him before he suddenly came to the realization that he was sitting down to begin with.

Sudden grip on reality crushed his dreams but relieved his fears.

The sadness that crushed his heart and soul vanished seemingly into thin air, leaving a gaping pit inside him.

He suddenly felt quite empty, quite numb and he still had absolutely no idea why.

Mana became aware of the faint sunlight shining through his window, appearing so dull and ugly compared to what he saw in that unusual dream he vaguely recalled.

It appeared to be quite early in the morning but he could never be sure. Everything seemed so distastefully dark now.

He woke in his bed, his covers wrapped tightly around his sweaty body.

Everything was as it usually was. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

"A… dream?" He pondered quietly.

A faint breeze ran from his open window, past the drapes and stroked his face as though it were trying to wake him up, but an odd sensation shocked him.

Wet. His face was wet.

His hand shot up to touch his cheek.

When he did this, he indeed realized that his face was wet but a second sensation shocked his system.

A light tickle. Something light and ticklish dropped onto his face when he opened his fist. Upon reaching upon, grabbing it and holding it a small distance away from his face for viewing, he got a good look at the object.

He nearly stopped breathing at the sight.

A feather.

A single large bird feather.

Now, Mana was an Onmiyoji so he would do some odd things before bed. Perhaps he just picked one up and forgot to put it away, he thought but one thing was undeniable.

The feather in his hand was a crisp white like freshly fallen snow.

His heart raced in his chest as a newfound emotion filled the void. Hope, a strong and powerful hope.

Could it be?

Was it possible?

Was the angel from his dream real?

But before he could finish that thought, a sound caught his attention. Suddenly feeling quite jumpy and skittish in the recent turn of events, Mana's head jerked to the side so fast he thought he might hurt his neck.

He didn't think his heart could take anymore shock.

His door was open and piering inside his room was a painfully familiar face he thought he would never see this way ever again.

Mana's eyes went as wide as dinner plates when they came into contact with that familiar pair and the blood in his veins turn cold and hot at the same time.

Time seemed to slow down to a comfortable pace.

There stood Nea Campbell, alive and well in his doorway, rubbing his eyes, exhausted but alive and well and in the end that single fact was all that mattered.

"Did you…." He grumbled sleepily, "Did you scream or something….?"

His voice.

His voice was exactly as he remembered and all too sweet to his ears.

The pain vanished instantaneously.

His heart nearly exploded as a new kind of tears wet his eyes.

At the sound of the voice of the one he thought for sure he had lost forever, Mana sprung from his bed, rushed to his twin, his brother, his other half, and dang near tackled him to the ground in embrace.

(What the heck man, why did I set this up for a sequel? Happy new year everybody. Thank you so much JY24 and I hope you have an amazing year. God bless all of you. I love you all. See you later!)


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